HatchetBefore the babies started booming, many former soldiers came to Washington University to utilize the privileges of the GI Bill.
This rush of young men to the colleges meant a great deal of overcrowding, remembers Joe Zelson, Class of 195?.
Far fewer buildings stood on campus, and those were packed with lecture classes, Zelson said.
Fewer buildings meant more greenery, especially on the South 40, which held only a handful of dorms. There was, however, something we no longer have: a nursing school.
Although the student center provided a place to do some dancing at night, the student body was much more serious in the 50s, Zelson said. People went to the student center to play chess or bridge between classes. Academics were still a priority.
“The male students were much older then they are now.” Zelson said. “These were guys that had been in the service on the GI bill. I got $75 a month. We were there to get an education, not to get a good time.”
Allen Surinsky said academics were the focus of student energies.
Washington University has always been coined a “place of success” according to The Hatchet from the 50s. Enrollment in the Liberal Arts school was limited to 2,138.
The majority of students were locals. Surinsky lived in the Loop and “walked to school every day.”
The women and men inhabited separate dorms spaced out over campus. The women lived in McMillan Hall, while the men had Lee and Liggett. In the social pages of the yearbook, it is rare to see men and women mingling in the photos.
“These guys were clean cut,” Zelson said. “They were in the service so it was a real conservative looking group.”
Politically, campus was quiet.
“There was no chitchat or desire for groups about politics,” Surinsky said.
These men may not have partied, but they still ate. Surinsky remembers only one cafeteria and described the food as mediocre, though it did the trick. Zelson never recalled dining on campus.
“I remember going to Garavelli’s and a place called Parkmoor,” Zelson said. Surinsky said the Loop was drastically different. There were fewer little businesses and no nightlife whatsoever.